scholarly journals Difficult bosses: real strategies for surviving

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius Pretorius
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Legacy Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relative Ease ◽  
Self Learning ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Very High

Purpose The plight of dissatisfied employees has become a recurring theme. A question often asked by management trainees is “How do I handle my difficult boss?” Hence, this paper aims to address the difficult boss problem successfully from the perspective of the subordinate. Design/methodology/approach The conceptualized legacy framework had been presented to participants and who verified its accuracy by their experiences. They could apply the framework with relative ease. Workshops, interview and online questionnaires informed the development of the framework. Findings The framework proposes four legacy effects on subordinates that bosses leave after interaction, namely, tense, dark, false and calm legacies. The legacies assist subordinates in classifying their bosses as either a hammer, flat battery, fire-lighter or dynamo. Once the boss is categorized, strategies to assist subordinates in handling their difficult boss flow from the framework. Research limitations/implications While extremely useful for subordinates, bosses are limited in the use of the legacy model as it requires very high trust levels to exist. The nature of the difficult boss problem suggests that such trust does not exist. Practical implications Benefits of understanding the legacy framework has two benefits: subordinates can use the legacy tool to classify their bosses and find strategies for how to handle difficult bosses. For bosses, subordinate evaluation of their legacies presents an alternative avenue to seek feedback and improve “self-learning” through reflection. Originality/value The legacy matrix was shown to be applicable to all bosses at all levels in virtually all organizations. The value of the framework was also observed at the informal level.

Employee competences in manufacturing companies – an expert survey

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1004-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit Meyer ◽  
Bianca Brünig ◽  
Peter Nyhuis
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Openness To Change ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Quality Awareness ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Very High

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present competences that are highly relevant for manufacturing today and tomorrow. Following a discussion on the concept of “competence”, a variety of competences are presented and classified into the four facets professional, methodological, social, and self-competence. Design/methodology/approach – Using an exploratory method, the paper aims at describing relevant manufacturing-related competences with the help of an online survey. Experts, mostly from the production management or HR departments of manufacturing companies in Germany, were polled and asked to evaluate the relevancy of a list of competences for manufacturing. Findings – For the experts, flawless execution and quality awareness are competences with a very high relevance, whereas analytical abilities have very little meaning. The experts questioned expect openness to change to undergo the strongest increase in importance. Practical implications – This paper shows competences particularly relevant for future production, so that companies can derive specific competence development measures. The findings are descriptive only, but should enable companies to identify specific competence gaps and to select measures to develop competences. Originality/value – This paper attempts to bridge the gap between academics and practice by outlining relevant manufacturing competences that have been evaluated by managers. This is in contrast to most scientific research that classifies manufacturing-related competences as important based on own assessment.

Beyond rarity: the paths of luxury desire. How luxury brands grow yet remain desirable

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Noël Kapferer ◽  
Pierre Valette-Florence
Keyword(s):  
Latent Variables ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Luxury Brands ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Selective Distribution ◽  
The World ◽  
Luxury Industry ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Very High ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose Luxury is a growing sector worldwide. This creates a major managerial challenge: How can luxury brands prevent becoming a victim of their own success? Once objective rarity is lost, what other levers still sustain desire for these luxury brands, nurture their dream and, thus, prevent the dilution of desirability created by their growing penetration and sales? Design/methodology/approach Based on 1,286 actual luxury consumers interviewed about 12 highly known and successful luxury brands on 42 experiential and perceptual items, a PLS hierarchical fourth-order latent variables model unveils the paths of luxury dream building. Findings The authors have identified how, beyond mere physical rarity and very high quality, eight experiential and perceptual levers fuel luxury desirability through two structural paths: selection and seduction. Research limitations/implications The concept of luxury is associated to rarity. But to grow, luxury brands need to abandon mere scarcity and selectivity (value created by limitation of production, highly selective distribution and selection of customers) and switch instead to an “abundant rarity”, where feelings of privilege are attached to the brand itself, seducing through its experiential facets, pricing, prestige and the world it symbolizes. Practical implications Luxury executives can use this paper as a compass to manage, sustain and monitor their brand desirability, all along the brand’s growth, as it moves away from being niche and rare. Social implications Considering the growing social diffusion of the need for luxury in different strata of the population, this paper reveals the levers of the attractiveness of the mega-brands of luxury. Originality/value This paper addresses the main problem of the luxury industry: How to grow yet remain desirable. It is based on 1,286 actual luxury buyers and 12 actual brands. Thanks to PLS modelization, the structure of the levers of brand desirability is revealed.

Study of post-war Syrian management practices shines light on numberof challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 31-33
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Technology Literacy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Local Characteristics ◽  
Managerial Culture ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Post War ◽  
Self Learning ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings War destroyed a lot of positive features of the Syrian society and forced a large number of elite managers to leave the country, making it imperative to study the local characteristics that affect post-war managerial culture. The findings revealed that the challenges included big egos, technological hurdles, financial constraints, instability, and the different expectations of new and old staff. Future trends included a need to develop collective leadership, designing programs to teach technology literacy for all ages, a greater focus on self-learning, and also a requirement to devise courses for managers and leaders at all levels of the company. Practical implications The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

High-Rayleigh heat transfer flow

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1928-1954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Francisco Corzo ◽  
Damian Enrique Ramajo ◽  
Norberto Marcelo Nigro
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Pressure Vessels ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Operation Temperature ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Rayleigh Numbers ◽  
Transfer Flow ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Very High

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the Boussinesq approach for a wide range of Ra (10 × 6 to 10 × 11) in two-dimensional (square cavity) and three-dimensional (cubic cavity) problems for air- and liquid-filled domains. Design/methodology/approach The thermal behavior in “differentially heated cavities” filled with air (low and medium Rayleigh) and water (high Rayleigh) is solved using computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) (OpenFOAM) with a non-compressible (Boussinesq) and compressible approach (real water properties from the IAPWS database). Findings The results from the wide range of Rayleigh numbers allowed for the establishment of the limitation of the Boussinesq approach in problems where the fluid has significant density changes within the operation temperature range and especially when the dependence of density with temperature is not linear. For these cases, the symmetry behavior predicted by Boussinesq is far from the compressible results, thus inducing a transient heat imbalance and leading to a higher mean temperature. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of the present research can be found in the shortage of experimental data for very high Rayleigh problems. Practical implications Practical implications of the current research could be use of the Boussinesq approach by carefully observing its limitations, especially for sensible problems such as the study of pressure vessels, nuclear reactors, etc. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in addressing the limitations of the Boussinesq approach for high Rayleigh water systems. This fluid is commonly used in numerous industrial equipment. This work presents valuable conclusions about the limitations of the currently used models to carry out industrial simulations.

“That’s the way my Wednesdays always go”: reverse-order instructions insufficient to mitigate schema-consistent errors in alibi generation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Eastwood ◽  
Mark D. Snow ◽  
Stuart Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reverse Order ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Relative Ease ◽  
Target Event ◽  
Interview Technique ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of innocent suspects to produce accurate alibis, as well as to identify procedures police interviewers can use to increase the probability of generating accurate alibis. Design/methodology/approach In Study 1, 54 university students had a lecture (target event) end at either the normal time (schema group) or 25 min early (non-schema group) and then attempted to generate an alibi for the target event after either a short, moderate or long delay. In Study 2, 20 students had a lecture end 25 min early and underwent an interview regarding their whereabouts using a reverse-order interview technique designed to disrupt schema usage. Findings Results from Study 1 suggested that participants relied on schemas to generate their alibis, which led to false alibis for the non-schema group, and this reliance was more pronounced as the delay between event and recall increased. In Study 2, all but one participant produced a false alibi, suggesting reverse order is ineffective in increasing accurate recall in alibi situations. Practical implications Results from the two studies revealed that people can produce false alibis easily in mock police interviews – a finding that appears to result from the reliance on schemas. These findings highlight the relative ease with which innocent individuals can produce false alibis. Further research, specific to the alibi generation process, is needed to give police interviewers the tools to produce more accurate and detailed alibis. Originality/value This research provides additional evidence regarding the role of schemas in alibi generation. Contrary to findings from the eyewitness area, reverse-order instructions failed to disrupt schema reliance and do not appear to be an effective alibi-elicitation technique.

Consumer value creation through WhatsApp use

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-471
Author(s):  
Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas ◽  
Jorge Guadalupe-Lanas ◽  
Ekaterina Zabelina ◽  
Andrés Palacio-Fierro ◽  
Margarita Velín-Fárez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Emotional Support ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Role Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Consumer Value ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand in-depth how consumers create value in their lives using WhatsApp, the leading mobile instant messaging (MIM) application. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts the perspective of customer-dominant logic (CDL) and uses a qualitative multimethod design involving 3 focus groups and 25 subsequent in-depth interviews. The research setting was Ecuador, a Latin American country. Findings Analysis and interpretation of the participants’ stories made it possible to identify and understand the creation of four types of value: maintaining and strengthening relationships; improving role performance; emotional support; and entertainment and fun. In addition, the present study proposes a conceptual model of consumer value creation as it applies to MIM. Practical implications Understanding the way consumers create value in their lives using MIM is important not only for organizations that offer MIM applications, but also for those companies that develop other applications for mobile phones or for those who wish to use MIM as an electronic word-of-mouth vehicle. Originality/value The current study is one of the first to address the topic of consumer behavior in the use of technologies from the perspective of CDL; this perspective enables an integrated qualitative vision of value creation in which the consumer is the protagonist.

scholarly journals Advantages and potential challenges of data management in e-maintenance

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arian Razmi-Farooji ◽  
Hanna Kropsu-Vehkaperä ◽  
Janne Härkönen ◽  
Harri Haapasalo
Keyword(s):  
Data Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Maintenance Systems ◽  
Industry Leader ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to understand data management challenges in e-maintenance systems from a holistically viewpoint through summarizing the earlier scattered research in the field, and second, to present a conceptual approach for addressing these challenges in practice. Design/methodology/approach The study is realized as a combination of a literature review and by the means of analyzing the practices on an industry leader in manufacturing and maintenance services. Findings This research provides a general understanding over data management challenges in e-maintenance and summarizes their associated proposed solutions. In addition, this paper lists and exemplifies different types and sources of data which can be collected in e-maintenance, across different organizational levels. Analyzing the data management practices of an e-maintenance industry leader provides a conceptual approach to address identified challenges in practice. Research limitations/implications Since this paper is based on studying the practices of a single company, it might be limited to generalize the results. Future research topics can focus on each of mentioned data management challenges and also validate the applicability of presented model in other companies and industries. Practical implications Understanding the e-maintenance-related challenges helps maintenance managers and other involved stakeholders in e-maintenance systems to better solve the challenges. Originality/value The so-far literature on e-maintenance has been studied with narrow focus to data and data management in e-maintenance appears as one of the less studied topics in the literature. This research paper contributes to e-maintenance by highlighting the deficiencies of the discussion surrounding the perspectives of data management in e-maintenance by studying all common data management challenges and listing different types of data which need to be acquired in e-maintenance systems.

An exploratory empirical study of whistleblowing and whistleblowers

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-770
Author(s):  
Maria Krambia-Kapardis
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Due Date ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Unethical Behaviour ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
European Directive ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of whistleblowers and to determine whether whistleblowing legislation would encourage those individuals to bring to light some illegal or unethical behaviour that otherwise would remain in the shadows. Design/methodology/approach Having identified whistleblowing correlation, a survey was carried out in Cyprus of actual whistleblowers and could-have-been whistleblowers. Findings Males between 46 and55 years of age, regardless of whether they have dependents or hold senior positions in organizations are significantly more likely to blow the whistle. However, could-have-been whistleblowers did not go ahead because they felt that the authorities would not act on their information. Research limitations/implications Because of the sensitive nature of the research topic and the fact that only whistleblowers or intended whistleblowers could participate in the study, the sample size is limited as a result. This, in turn, limits both the number of respondents in each category (actual and intended) as well as constrains the statistical analysis that could be carried out on the data. Practical implications It remains to be seen whether EU Member States shall implement the European Directive 2019/1937 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union Law, in its entirety by the due date, namely December 2021. Originality/value This study provides a literature review of whistleblowing and reports an original survey against the backdrop of the European Directive.

How Phillips saw the light

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 29-31
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Business World ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Freak Show ◽  
The World ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
The One ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The problem with developing a reputation of being something of an oracle in the business world is that all of a sudden, everyone expects you to pull off the trick of interpreting the future on a daily basis. Like a freak show circus act or one-hit wonder pop singer, people expect you to perform when they see you, and they expect you to perform the thing that made you famous, even if it is the one thing in the world you don’t want to do. And when you fail to deliver on these heightened expectations, you are dismissed as a one trick pony, however good that trick is in the first place. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

scholarly journals Examining the accounts of oil spills crises in Nigeria through sensegiving and defensive behaviours

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (8) ◽  
pp. 2053-2076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osamuyimen Egbon ◽  
Chijoke Oscar Mgbame
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implication ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Burden Of Proof ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Defensive Behaviours ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThe paper examines how oil multinational companies (MNCs) in Nigeria framed accounts to dissociate themselves from causing oil spills.Design/methodology/approachThe authors utilised data from relevant corporate reports, external accounts and interviews, and used sensegiving with defensive behaviours theoretical framing to explore corporate narratives aimed at altering stakeholders' perceptions.FindingsThe corporations gave sense to their audience by invoking scapegoating blame avoidance narrative in attributing the cause of most oil spills in Nigeria to outsiders (sabotage), despite potentially misclassifying the sabotage-corrosion dichotomy. Corporate stance was reinforced through justifying narrative, which suggested that multi-stakeholders jointly determined the causes of oil spills, thus portraying corporate accounts as transparent, credible and objective.Research limitations/implicationsThe socio-political dynamics in an empirical setting affect corporate accounts and how those accounts appear persuasive, implying that such contextual factors merit consideration when evaluating corporate accounts. For example, despite contradictions in corporate accounts, corporate attribution of oil spills to external factors appeared persuasive due to the inherently complicated socio-political dynamics.Practical implicationsWith compensation to oil spills' victims only legally permitted for non-sabotage-induced spills alongside the burden of proof on the victims, the MNCs are incentivised to attribute most oil spills to sabotage. On policy implication, accountability would be best served when the MNCs are tasked both with the burden of proof and a responsibility to demonstrate their transparency in preventing oil spills, including those caused by sabotage.Originality/valueCrisis situations generate multiple and competing perspectives, but sensegiving and defensive behaviours lenses enrich our understanding of how crisis-ridden companies frame narratives to alter stakeholders' perceptions. Accounts-giving therefore partly satisfies accountability demands, and acts as sensegiving signals aimed at reframing/redefining existing perceptions.

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